Soaking pit cover apparatus and method

ABSTRACT

A soaking pit cover having a plurality of spaced metal strips with spikes and strips of flexible insulating material disposed on the spikes to form an insulating surface adjacent the bottom surface of the soaking pit cover.

United States Patent 1191 Malovich Dec. 10, 1974 [5 1 SOAKING PIT COVER APPARATUS AND 2,189,280 2/1940 Croft 110 173 D 2,592,412 4/1952 Frohnapel.... 220/24 X METRO 2,696,178 12/1954 Hebert 126/190 X lnvenwr: Peter Malovich, Bellwood, 3.133.513 5/1964 Hunt et al 110/173 [73] Assignee: Inland Steel Company, Chicago, Ill.

Primary Examinerl(enneth W. Sprague [22] Flled' 1973 Attorney, Agent, or FirmMerriam, Marshall, Shapiro [21] Appl. No.: 327,830 & Klose [52] US. Cl 110/173 A, 126/190, 432/250,

29/157 R [57] ABSTRACT [51 Int. Cl. F23m 7/00 A oaking pit cover having a plurality of spaced metal 1 Field of Seardhm 1 173 173 strips with spikes and strips of flexible insulating mate- 3 126/ 19 220/24 157 rial disposed on the spikes to form an insulating surface adjacent the bottom surface of the soaking pit [56] References Cited cover.

UNITED STATES PATENTS Keep 220/24 X 9 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENIED BEE I 0l974 SOAKING PIT COVER APPARATUS AND METHOD This invention relates to furnaces and particularly to a soaking pit cover and the method of making such a cover.

Soaking pit covers presently available have not been entirely satisfactory. Prior art covers included the use of refractory bricks which were mounted on the underside of the cover to provide insulation. Initially, the construction of covers using a brick insulating lining is quite heavy and requires the use of a substantial supporting frame and other heavy equipment to move the cover into open and closed positions.

The construction of a brick lined soaking pit cover raises other undesired problems. It has been found that it is necessary to suspend beams or hangers, from which the insulating bricks depend, in a precise manner so that the insulating bricks, when installed on the beams or hangers, provide a complete insulating cover. If the beams are improperly spaced,'then modifications must be made in the bricks, which often include the costly and time consuming operation of cutting the refractory bricks so that the lining cover can be completed.

Additionally, brick lined soaking pit covers have a heat insulating capacity that often is unsatisfactory in that bricks are burned thereby causing substantial maintenance problems. Moreover, the heat insulating capacities of the brick lined covers has not been too satisfactory.

Another soaking pit cover that is known relates to the use of plastic in which plastic insulating material is utilized to line the cover. This type of pit cover has certain disadvantages. A considerable amount of time is associated with making a cover having plastic insulation due in part to the requirement that the plastic must be rammed in place. Special tools are required to ram the plastic in position. Moreover, when the soaking pit cover of this type had been completed, it is heavier than a comparable brick cover which, as pointed out previously, suffers from many disadvantages.

With both the brick and plastic lined covers, care I must also be exercised when moving or lifting the covers not to flex the cover as flexing serves to rupture the brick or plastic.

What is desired is a soaking pit cover which is lighter than covers using brick or plastic insulating materials, is relatively easy to construct and move into open and closed positions, is not apt to rupture due to flexing during movement of the cover while at the same time having increased insulating properties as compared to the heavier brick or plastic lined covers.

, SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention disclosed and claimed herein serves to obviate the disadvantages associated with soaking pit covers presently available. The cover of the present invention includes a substantially flat plate which preferably is suspended from axles which in turn are mounted on wheels that are adapted to ride along rails to move the soaking pit cover between open and closed positions.

Mounted on the underside of the soaking pit cover I are a plurality of spaced, horizontally extending metal strips. Horizontal spikes project outwardly from the strips. Mounted on the spikes are compressed strips of fibrous ceramic insulating material. The fibrous strips are arranged substantially parallel to the spaced metal strips. The insulating material is positioned on the spikes so that the fibers of the material are aligned whereby a substantially monolithic refractory structure is formed.

Due to the very low thermal conductivity of the ceramic fiber blanket, the insulating properties of the cover are better than comparable brick and plastic lined covers, both of which, on a comparable basis, have been found to be greater both in cover thickness and weight than the cover of the present invention.

When the cover of the present invention is employed, it can be moved to open and closed positions in a relatively easy manner because the weight of the cover is substantially lighter than comparable covers which utilize brick or plastic. Accordingly, the supporting structure for the cover of the present invention need not be as massive as required for comparable brick and plastic lined covers. Further, flexure of the cover during moving, because of the design of the present cover, will not occasion the rupture of the cover as occurred with brick and plastic lined soaking pit covers.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will be better understood from the following detailed description thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of the soaking pit cover of the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows an end section view of the soaking pit cover along lines 2-2 in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 shows a partial section view along lines 33 of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF "TI-IE INVENTION Referring to the drawings and particularly FIG. 2 there is shown soaking pit 10 having side walls 12 and 14. Contiguous to side walls 12, 14 are tracks 16, 18 upon which the soaking pit cover assembly will move from an open position to a closed position whereby cover 5 is positioned over soaking pit 10.

Tracks l6, 18 are adapted to carry wheels 20, 22 located at each end of an axle 23. Pit cover hangers 24 are suspended from axles 23.

A flat plate 30 has a top surface 29 which is welded, or attached by other suitable means, to a plurality of spaced I-beams 31. I-beams 32 are welded at right angles to beams 31. Viewing FIG. 1, hangers 24 are welded to beams 32. A bumper 4 is attached to the ends of each pair of beams 32 so that the cover can be pushed into and out of position by a vehicle or the like acting against a bumper.

The bottom surface 33 of plate or cover 30 has a plurality of spaced metal strips 34 depending therefrom, the strips being welded to the bottom surface of the cover. Each strip 34 has spikes 35 which project outwardly from the strip and are spaced along the length of each metal strip. While spikes 35 are shown, any spike-like member which would serve to allow insulating material to be attached thereto could be employed.

In assembly, a metal strip 34 with spikes 35 is welded or attached by other suitable means to the bottom surface 33 of plate 30. Subsequently, strips 40 which comprise a fibrous insulating material are compressed on spikes 35. As seen in FIGS. '2 and 3, the fibrous strips 40 are of a width whereby they depend further from surface 33 than metal strips 34. The compression of the fibrous strips onto the spikes serves to fill substantially the space between adjacent strips 34 with insulating material so that the surface 33 of cover 30 is lined with insulating material. After strips 40 have been pushed onto the spike, another strip 34 is welded to the bottom surface 33 of plate 30, and the compression packing of strips 40 onto spikes 35 is repeated. The overall effect is that the insulation lining of soaking pit cover comprises a plurality of fibrous strips 40 which are pegged on spikes 35 of plates 34 which depend from plate 30.

One fibrous material 40 which has good insulating qualities and yet is relatively light weight is a ceramic fiber material available from the Refractories Division of Babcock & Wilcox Company, Old Savannah Road, Augusta, Ga. 30903 and is referred to under the trademark KAOWOOL. The product is further described in a catalog referred to as Kaowool Ceramic Fiber Product Catalog. Pages 130-1, 2 dated 5-1-70 of the catalog describe the strip in greater detail. The fibrous insulating blanket is hung from plate 30 so that metal strips 34, which are of less width than the width of strips 40, are covered by the fibrous strips as shown in FIG. 3. The strips 40 should be of sufficient width and density to provide the desired insulating properties. Strips of varying width and density are available and the optium strip for the particular application can be selected.

Flanged angle iron members 50, 51 are welded to the respective ends of beams 31. Members 50, 51 each have a plurality of spaced spikes 52 which depend from flange 53, the spikes extending along the length of the flange. Fibrous strips 40 are inserted on spikes 52, the fibrous material extending out beyond the edge of plate 30 as shown in FIG. 2.

Viewing FIG. 3, angle iron members 60 are welded to the top of surface 29 of plate 30 contiguous to the ends 58, and adjacent to l-beams 31. Members 60 have a plurality of spaced spikes 62 which depend from flange 63. Fibrous strips 40 are inserted on spikes 62. The strips extend out beyond the edges of plate 30 and hang down adjacent to strips 40 depending from spikes 35.

The soaking pit cover of the present invention with its fibrous blanket made up of compressed fibrous ceramic strips serves to provide increased heat insulating properties above those which exist with comparable brick 'and plastic lined soaking pit covers. The cover of the present invention serves to reduce overall cover weight which makes the cover easier to handle than other type covers.

The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness of understanding only, and no unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom as modifications will be obvious to one skilled in the art.

What is claimed is: v

l. A soaking pit cover for use with a soaking pit, said cover comprising:

a cover plate having a bottom surface;

spaced holding means connected'to and depending from the bottom surface of said plate; and, flexible insulating material connected to and disposed in the spaces between said spaced holding means to form an insulating surface adjacent substantially the entire bottom surface of said cover whereby the bottom surface of said cover plate is substantially lined with said insulating material.

2. A soaking pit cover in accordance with claim 1 wherein:

said holding means includes means for joining said insulating material to said holding means; and,

said insulating material comprises flexible strips of material, said insulating strips being adapted to be attached to said holding means.

3. A soaking pit cover in accordance with claim 2 wherein said holding means are strips and said joining means are spike-like members.

4. A soaking pit cover in accordance with claim 3 wherein said holding means are metal strips having a plurality of spike-like members projecting outwardly from said metal strips, and said strips of insulating material are disposed on said spikes sufficient to form an insulating surface adjacent the bottom surface of said cover plate.

5. A soaking pit cover for use with a soaking pit, said cover comprising:

a cover plate having top and bottom surfaces;

a plurality of spaced strips depending from and attached to said bottom surface;

said strips having a plurality of spike-like members projecting outwardly therefrom;

a plurality of flexible strips of insulating material disposed on said members whereby an insulating cover is formed adjacent the bottom surface of said cover.

6. A soaking pit cover in accordance with claim 5 wherein said depending strips are metal and said members are spikes.

7. The method of making a soaking pit cover according to the steps of:

attaching a first strip having spike-like members projecting therefrom to a soaking pit cover plate;

installing at least one strip of flexible insulating mate rial on said spike-like members and compressing said material against said strip whereby air spaces are substantially obviated; and

installing a second strip of material having spike-like members projecting therefrom adjacent said compressed flexible material while said strips are maintained in a compressed position so that said second strip will retain said insulating material in a compressed state.

8. The method of making a soaking pit cover in accordance with claim 7 wherein the steps of attaching strips of material having spike-like members projecting therefrom to said cover plate and installing said strips of insulating material are repeated until an insulating cover is located adjacent the bottom surface of said cover plate.

9. The method of making a soaking pit cover in accordance with claim 7 wherein a pluralityof strips of flexible insulating material are disposed on said members and said strips of insulating material are maintained in a compressed position while said second strip is attached to maintain said insulating material in a compressed position. 

1. A soaking pit cover for use with a soaking pit, said cover comprising: a cover plate having a bottom surface; spaced holding means connected to and depending from the bottom surface of said plate; and, flexible insulating material connected to and disposed in the spaces between said spaced holding means to form an insulating surface adjacent substantially the entire bottom surface of said cover whereby the bottom surface of said cover plate is substantially lined with said insulating material.
 2. A soaking pit cover in accordance with claim 1 wherein: said holding means includes means for joining said insulating material to said holding means; and, said insulating material comprises flexible strips of material, said insulating strips being adapted to be attached to said holding means.
 3. A soaking pit cover in accordance with claim 2 wherein said holding means are strips and said joining means are spike-like members.
 4. A soaking pit cover in accordance with claim 3 wherein said holding means are metal strips having a plurality of spike-like members projecting outwardly from said metal strips, and said strips of insulating material are disposed on said spikes sufficient to form an insulating surface adjacent the bottom surface of said cover plate.
 5. A soaking pit cover for use with a soaking pit, said cover comprising: a cover plate having top and bottom surfaces; a plurality of spaced strips depending from and attached to said bottom surface; said strips having a plurality of spike-like members projecting outwardly therefrom; a plurality of flexible strips of insulating material disposed on said members whereby an insulating cover is formed adjacent the bottom surface of said cover.
 6. A soaking pit cover in accordance with claim 5 wherein said depending strips are metal and said members are spikes.
 7. The method of making a soaking pit cover according to the steps of: attaching a first strip having spike-like members projecting therefrom to a soaking pit cover plate; installing at least one strip of flexible insulating material on said spike-like members and compressing said material against said strip whereby air spaces are substantially obviated; and installing a second strip of material having spike-like members projecting therefrom adjacent said compressed flexible material while said strips are maintained in a compressed position so that said second strip will retain said insulating material in a compressed state.
 8. The method of making a soaking pit cover in accordance with claim 7 wherein the steps of attaching strips of material having spike-like members projecting therefrom to said cover plate and installing said strips of insulating material are repeated until an insulating cover is located adjacent the bottom surface of said cover plate.
 9. The method of making a soaking pit cover in accordance with claim 7 wherein a plurality of strips of flexible insulating material are disposed on said members and said strips of insulating material are maintained in a compressed position while said second strip is attached to maintain said insulating material in a compressed position. 